Talking books are known, and are a popular item for children, especially young children who are learning or have just learned to read. Typically, a talking book has an integral sound source for producing sounds when actuated by the reader. Such sound sources may be mechanical, such as a bellows-actuated reed or whistle, or may be electronic, in which sounds are stored digitally and reproduced electronically. The sound source, whatever its structure, is usually keyed to the story in the book, so that the sounds produced bear some relationship to the content of the story. The sound source is not only keyed to the story, it is physically incorporated into the book so as to become a permanent part of the book. That is, the sound source is not removable from the book. While these books are enjoyable and educational for the child, they are limited in that they are unable to provide a more active role for the child to play when reading the book or having it read to him or her.
A child's interest and imagination, and hence the play value and educational value of a book, are enhanced when the child is able to take a more active role in reading or listening to the book. To provide a more enjoyable and more educational reading experience, it is desired to provide a talking book with a sound source that is keyed to the story in the book but is removably attached to the book so that the sound source can, on occasion, be separated by the reader from the book. The sound source preferably produces realistic sounds, such as sounds of objects, or events, or of animals or human speech. This gives a talking book a greater play value and greater educational value. By permitting the sound source to be removed when desired, a reader, particularly a young child, can more actively and more realistically act out the story along with the characters in the book. This gives the child a greater feeling of participation in the reading process, and stimulates the child's interest in reading.
In particular, it is desired to provide a removable sound source in the shape of a telephone handset, such as a cordless telephone, by which a young reader can pretend to be engaged in conversation with one of the characters in the story. Children are naturally curious about and interested in the telephone, and it is desired to provide the experience of using the telephone in the context of a pleasant story. This enables the child reader to get more out of the story, and provides the child with an enjoyable and educational simulated telephone experience at the same time.
Prior attempts to provide this type of experience to a child reader have been made, but have fallen short. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,642,054 and 4,752,230 both illustrate books including telephone dials or keypads, but not a telephone handset. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,054, the telephone dial does not reproduce any sounds, nor is it removable from the book. The book illustrated in that patent therefore cannot provide a realistic telephone experience for a child reader. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,230, the book includes a simulated telephone keypad which actuates a sound generator to produce musical sounds according to instructions in the book. The book illustrated in that patent enables a reader to reproduce simple melodies by pressing the number keys on the keypad according to numerical sequences printed in the book. While the keypad illustrated in this patent imitates a telephone keypad, it is really not part of a simulated telephone at all.
The present invention provides a unique form of talking book which provides a realistic telephone experience for a child in conjunction with a pleasantly entertaining or educational story by providing a removable simulated telephone handset which produces sounds keyed to the story in the book. A child reader can readily imagine that he or she is participating in a conversation with one or more characters in the book and is actually listening to the voices of the characters on the telephone. Even children who have not yet learned to read can enjoy the book of the present invention. One or more keys on the simulated telephone handset can be labelled with a picture or icon representing a character or object. The child can simply press the key with the picture or icon representing the character or object to hear the sounds associated with that character or object.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a talking book with a removable sound source that provides a more enjoyable, more stimulating and more educational reading experience for a child.